Sharing A Few Hong Kong Stamps And A Question For My Learning

Hello all,

When I received the stamps from my Aunt in Mexico, it had a small amount of Hong Kong stamps and some nice postcards + covers. My Aunt was an accountant at a department store called Riskind's in a very small border town in TX. The owner traveled extensively and he would give my Aunt stamps and covers from his travels.

I liked the Hong Kong stamps from the get go and have found really inexpensive country pages to build it up a bit. I have placed some in Vario Pages (have more not shown) - have yet to catalogue and plan to start pages.

My questions: Do the QV or even the KEVII stamps have fugitive ink? similar to the GB Jubilee issues? many of those older stamps are a bit dingy and I want to clean them up and remove hinges. I want to make sure that I do not mess them up further - I think they are lovely including the cancels. Thanks for letting me share.

Quick add - I am also reading about Chalky paper and the use of silver to identify? I also understand those should not go in water.

You go girl! Nice job!
Don

Thank you Don! the learning never stops :)

Nora,

Here is some more info on the decimal definitives. Angora, correctly, spotted the second pae of booklet stamps should be litho, not photo. These use two Machin 'heads' the two series you have stamps from have varieties.

Do not do the silver test for chalky paper on mint stamps. Chalky paper, normally, can be felt by the top of your upper lip (no lipstick!). It is smoother than ordinary paper, and has a somewhat silky touch. Coatings can be damaged by submerging in water.

https://www.sandafayre.com/News/Sta...Papers/?i=91

The early stamps were printed by De La Re, just like the British stamps. Their green and lilac inks were highly fugitive. That also was the case for Hong Kong.

Hi NSK -
Thank you, yes I read though the entire thread you started with the additional detail from Angore. "Hong Kong Machin Definitives"

ha Promise - no lipstick - that made me laugh. Ok, I think I will give that a try. I am not too keen on the silver test. For now I will not soak any of those stamps. I can tell that the QV overprinted with 20 cents is already extremely faded. I might try a damp Qtip or search on the forum to get those hinges off so I can mount them properly in the future.

Here are two more pages placed in Vario for now. More Modern Machins.

Gracias como siempre NSK. Nora.

Having an oiled mustache also rules out the lip test. If your fingers are sensitive enough, you'll be able to notice the coldness. No eating Cheetos, though. Once you have a few chalky papers identified, you'll probably get an idea of what to look for. Another test is to use a magnifying glass. If applied thickly enough, chalky paper will show pits and craters from dried bubbling caused by application of the chalky stuff.

A very nice collection overall. You have some $1.30 middle values from modern sets which are hard to find in the US and Canada. I think it was probably a rate to somewhere else or at least for something other than a first class letter to the Americas.

Patience will be required when you sit down to watermark the more modern definitives. They can be very tough to see at all sometimes, true of those watermarks shared with other Commonwealth countries at the time.

The PPC is great to see and is another version of the Dear Doctor postcards discussed a while ago:
https://goscf.com/t/43223

Thanks Hy - well I am not sporting an oiled mustache, at least not at the moment - ha ;). Aside from not being on my diet, Cheetos + stamps definitely not on my list of to-dos. I did read about the magnification (but I know is has to be very strong) and you can see little bubbles or craters. Worth a shot.

Oh those watermarks. practice, practice, practice - that is all I can do right :). I will check out the thread on the PPC. I have quite a few - from or to Mr. Riskind - the Dept store owner my Aunt worked for. I also picked up a couple in Galveston, TX a week or so ago as they have many antique shops on the island. I might share a few more on the PPC forum/Threads.

Thanks for your feedback hy-Brasil! Muy agradecida.

De La Rue 9d Ultramarine and Slate Purple

1. Ordinary paper



2. Chalky paper

Thank you. The chalky is more defined -brighter/darker/tighter (not sure I am using the right descriptors). I am going to do some comparisons and also use the upper-lip, no lipstick test and see what I can figure out.

Catalogued & mounted a few QV as a start. - it was good practice (WM much easier). Chalky Paper next starting with KEVII. Scott #61 was definitely fugitive ink and the stamp is faded. But that is ok, in the future I can always upgrade.

I feel a new core collection coming on. They look great. I think Hong Kong as beautiful definitives.

Your description of the images is fine. The ones on chalk-surfaced paper are better defined.

Thanks NSK. Yes most likely :) The definitives are lovely and eye catching on a page. I keep telling myself - "ok that is it- no adding another core country"...but some countries just call to me :) I mean technically, I already collect GB - so this is like an extension of my existing GB collection ;) (at least until 1997).

very nice collection of Hong Kong

I told myself "just the 1992-1997 Machins." They appear in the Deegam Handbook and are a nice addition to my GB Machins. It is very difficult to resist the earlier ones that not only show a Machin Head, but were designed by him as well.

Must resist and spend my money on GB and Ireland.
Must be strong and resist.
Must resist.

Thank you Mljespe. NSK you are stronger and wiser than I.

Beautiful display, Nora.